cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53727326

Washington election officials announced a preliminary review of a federal list of more than 400 alleged noncitizen voters has already uncovered U.S. citizens, inactive voters and people who are not currently registered. The revelation renews concerns about the accuracy of the Trump administration’s expanding effort to identify supposedly ineligible voters.

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (D) disclosed the findings Wednesday in a blistering response to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which this week threatened litigation unless Washington stopped processing ballots tied to people on a list supplied by the Department of Homeland Security.

“A preliminary investigation confirms what your letter acknowledges: This list includes United States citizens and is not reliable,” Hobbs wrote. He said refusing to process a registered voter’s ballot without individualized proof of ineligibility would be “both irresponsible and illegal.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53686634

Donald Trump is accused of raping a former Miss Switzerland in a report probing the president’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein released by House of Representatives Democrats this week.

Beatrice Keul, a retired model and beauty pageant contestant, told the House Judiciary Committee about an incident alleged to have taken place at New York’s Plaza Hotel in 1993. The report, released a week ahead of the midterm elections, also summarizes previously reported allegations from four other women against Trump.

The White House has strongly denied all of the reports’ claims, accusing “crazed” Democrats of “a desperate attempt to distract Americans” and insisting that the president has been “fully exonerated of anything related to Epstein.”

Keul previously claimed in October 2024 that Trump had sexually assaulted her at a beauty pageant staged at the Plaza Hotel, which Trump then owned.

"The president may have raped someone, but we need to double down on the made up rape threat that transgender people pose to women!"

-Republicans, demonstrably.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/77639968

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/77561868

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53436206

Donald Trump is a “puppet” to psychopathic traits that are likely to become even more dangerous if Republicans suffer a bruising defeat in next month’s midterm elections, a leading clinical psychologist has warned.

Dr. Vincent Greenwood, director of the Washington Center for Cognitive Therapy, also believes the president’s danger is underestimated and warrants invoking the 25th Amendment.

...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53383679

Posting here since there is no c/irony

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/44006863

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52950660

With less than a month until voters determine whether his party will retain control of the House, Senate and governorships in nearly every state, Donald Trump appears increasingly detached from reality amid a political landscape that is growing increasingly perilous for him and his allies.

Trump is embarking on what aides are calling an all-out blitz of campaign rally appearances in support of Republican candidates in states across the country, even in places where Republicans would normally be heavily favored.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52930354

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52879096

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52893112

Agents surrounded the man and child in his car before firing multiple rounds, according to Zohran Mamdani

A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot a man in New York City on Thursday afternoon, according to the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani.

Early reports indicated that agents had surrounded the man and a five-year-old child in his car before firing multiple rounds, the mayor said in a statement on Thursday evening. The child was physically unharmed, according to Mamdani.

The individual who was shot was conscious and taken to a hospital, the NYPD said in a brief statement.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52642812

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52634615

The Group of Seven Nations agreed Friday to release 100 million barrels of oil from its stockpiles—following a desperate plea from the White House.

The G7 held an emergency meeting Friday morning to discuss global energy costs. The discussion came in the wake of a pressing call between Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, during which the U.S. leader asked for assistance amid the current oil crisis and floated the idea of banning U.S. diesel exports, according to CBS Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Margaret Brennan.

Donald Trump announced after the meeting that “Europe has just agreed to release a massive amount of their heavily stocked Diesel Oil. The process will begin immediately.”

The European barrels are expected to hit the market over the next four months.

cross-posted from: https://pawb.social/post/50870034

The Trump administration is intentionally slow-rolling efforts to restrict abortion pill access until after the midterms. Once they're over, "the gloves will be off," according to one anti-abortion advocate who spoke with The Washington Sun.

US Attorney General Todd Blanche said during his July confirmation hearing that rules allowing abortion pills to be shipped nationwide were "wrong" and that he'd seek to review them. He's also reportedly assured faith leaders he would work to ban abortion "in every single state."

But according to a Friday report from the Sun, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has intervened to limit the potential political fallout of new sweeping restrictions on a method that accounts for nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the US.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52389729

Trump tries to dominate at the UN as his approval ratings plummet and even some Republicans stray from the script

Donald Trump stood before the United Nations on Tuesday and threatened to “annihilate” Iran. Yet even as the most powerful man on the planet flexed his military muscles, he was powerless to keep the gravitational pull of domestic politics at bay.

Heading into the UN building in New York, the US president was questioned by Kaitlan Collins, an anchor at CNN, which he had banned from the White House before a judge ruled against him. “I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me,” the 80-year-old snapped. “You should not be here covering me.”

The lashing-out was a reminder that even Trump, who has expanded executive power and dominated the national consciousness, finds some things beyond his control. Indeed, 20 months into his second term, there is a widening gap between the president’s self-perceived invincibility and the reality of his waning influence.

Federal courts are reining him in. Congressional Republicans are straying from the script. Poll numbers are tumbling to historic depths, driven by persistent inflation, rising fuel costs and an increasingly unpopular war in Iran. For the first time since his improbable political resurrection, Trump’s aura of authority is fading.

An Appeals Court panel has ruled that federal agents can legally search through travelers' cell phones without reasonable suspicion, probable cause, or a warrant when they cross an international border.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52093220

A new survey has found that a record number of registered voters in the United States oppose the war on Iran and believe there is no strategy to end it.

A survey published on Thursday by Fox News found that 71 percent of voters believe the Trump administration “lacks a clear strategy” for ending the hostilities, which have helped to raise inflation and send fuel prices soaring.

President Donald Trump’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas featured a bizarre video that claimed he was chosen by God for a special purpose.

The video, which was also used in 2024, is a modified version of Paul Harvey’s 1978 “So God Made a Farmer” speech, but with a twist: In this one, God makes Trump.

“And on June 14th, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, ‘I need a caretaker,’” the narrator says. “So God gave us Trump.”

Critics were stunned by the video’s blatant idolatry, especially on a stage where speaker after speaker had attacked Democrats about faith while posturing as defenders of Christianity.